My 89 convertable has an aluminum hood. Was this hood standard on the convertable?

 

all FC convertibles came standard with an aluminum hood

 

Hey Mark...not to disagree with you because truth be told you are one of maybe 4 or 5 people on the forums I'd actually listen to and say, "He's probably right" without researching it (although I always research it to make certain...haha).

I was told that some 'verts did come with steel hoods. Now I know hoods can be easily swapped but when I bought my 'vert...it had never been in an accident and both previous owners had immaculate records. It has a steel hood...that is still on there because I haven't found an aluminum one yet.

Not to be disrespectful or contradictory, just wondering if anyone else had this experience.

GG

 

Nope. If there was a steel hood on a vert, then it was either replaced in an accident, by the dealer, or by the owner.

All verts came from the factory with alum hoods. It was the only way they could avoid the gas guzzler tax. You will find all verts have alum spare, BBS wheels, the uberlichet German jack as well for the same reasons.

 

They also came from the factory with plastic rather than glass in the headlight lenses as well.
(another intersting yet useless factoid )

 

Gringo I think I have a hood for you in my shop. I know I have a couple clean 'vert doors in there. PM me if you want it, I'm in St Pete.

 

Sweet, I had no idea!

I need to shave a half second off my 1\4 time so I'm doing this upgrade

 

I think that might not be accurate saying all verts had aluminum hoods, I was looking for a vert 2 years ago, I really wanted an S5. I looked at probably 8 verts almost entirely at local dealers.

2 of them where 91's, both 91's had steel hoods, had the correct under hood stickers, factory under hood insulation etc.

Of course maybe they where supposed to come with aluminum and didn't.

 

The actual empiric evidence presented isn't persuasive since the actual histories of the cars cited cannot be proven. Even though the proponent may state certain facts in regard to lack of accident or "honest" previous owners, the fact is that none of this can be proven to a 100% percent certainty.

What Mark is stating are facts put out by Mazda and the concerns about fuel economy Mazda had at the time.

Further, most individuals don't know how to tell an AL hood from a steel one if they have no comparison hood presented to them. That may not be the case here, but the basic argument in terms of the convertible and its AL hood is accurate. But, satisfy yourself and check the records available and any factual books put out. They will support Mark's statements.